One harrowing night at the Emirates… An account of an unrepentant Arsenal fan

Arsenal 0-0 Villarreal: One harrowing night at the Emirates… An account of an unrepentant Arsenal fan (Europa league semi-final second leg)

Stepping out in my Arsenal shirt, with heavy eyes and lots of headaches, feeling cranky and ready to argue at the slightest provocation, it doesn’t have to rain to expect traffic, any excuse at all to vent and rant will not pass me by.

Make no mistakes, defeats are part of the beautiful game, but when it happens more often than not, with a team that shows signs of regression with every passing game, it’s hard to stay sane.

Arsenal had just one job on the night against Villareal, score and don’t concede, the arguments about who to face in the final don’t even count yet.

Best Villareal on the night and we can have that conversation, the instruments to do it were readily available, yet they bungled it.

From the messages in the media, how pumped the players sound, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang going hard with promises and the whole fan base getting ready for a masterclass, for the entirety of the first half, Arsenal had just one shot on target and that was it for the game, what now?

The team selection was good enough, suspension from the first leg where he shouldn’t even have featured at all meant Dani Ceballos won’t irk Arsenal fans so Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe were handed a start with Thomas Partey at the base.

Whatever happened to Granit Xhaka before kickoff that altered team sheet looked like a blessing at first with Kieran Tierney coming in, and then the lack of long-range passes that could unlock a team sitting deep were missing, no David Luiz, no Xhaka.

Stars were aligning for Arsenal, Samuel Chukwueze was stretchered off injured early, leaving Tierney with fewer troubles to deal with.

It was going to be straightforward but Arsenal didn’t look hungry, and for once, Thomas Partey looked ordinary.

I’ve seen days of defeats, while the embarrassing loss to Birmingham in 2010 at the altar of the league cup remains fresh, last night rivals the Baku debacle, and stands neck to neck with the horror show of Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny.

One goal was all Arsenal needed, it was coming, Aubameyang hit the woodwork late on and Mikel Arteta rewarded him with a substitution.

Arsenal needed a goal and what the manager thought to do was to remove a man with a point to prove and replace with a man with nothing to prove.

While I have always supported Arteta, we were told to trust the process, but what is the process? Where is the process? We were made to believe that Arteta is the project, but in what direction is the team headed?

Arsenal will not be in Europe next season, will that help the team as they won’t have distractions? Can you trust Arteta to make the right decisions? 

The current season is a disaster, Arsenal will be finishing at their lowest ever in the premier league era and there seems to be a bigger problem elsewhere.

How do you attract big players when you’re not even attractive? Which big-name player will join you knowing you’re not even in Europa?

Thoughts of Daniel Ek trying to buy the club from KSE is heartwarming, will it see the light of the day? 

Fans are right to want Arteta out, but they must be aware that his replacement will still suffer the same fate, why? Because the benchmark from the owners will still be low.

My name is Ramsey Bimbola Gold, I am hurt, I am devastated, but my question is… Where does Arsenal go from here?